I got a little behind on the posts so this is going to be a quick recap of episodes 3 and 4 and then a little more about episode 5. The rankings that will be posted will be the most recent coming off of episode 5. There are a few things I have noticed about this season:
1. Arie isn't that likable. It's very hard to root for him and take an interest in who he should pick 2. It seems like Arie is just here to make out with the girls. 3. None of the girls at this point seem like the right fit for Arie. They are either too good for him or they just don't have any connection Also remember, that the rankings are based of of who I think Arie likes and who might win not on personal opinion. I do not agree all the time with the rankings. Episode 3: First there was the GLOW date where the girls had to learn how to wrestle and then perform in front of a group of people. There were those like Maquel who rocked the date but Bibiana and Tia couldn't really handle it. The date didn't let Arie get to know the girls that well. Bekah was by far the weirdest with "sex kitten." After that kind of dramatic group date, Lauren S. got the 1 on 1 date but she couldn't handle the pressure and was really awkward so she got sent home. Krystal then began to cause problems after Lauren left. I think Krystal is going to be a huge problem. The other date was even more pointless with the dogs and then Annaliese got triggered again. Honestly this episode was pretty boring. Episode 4: The main focus of this episode was Bekah's age (which I totally called she would be 22). Arie should have sent her home but for some reason he kept her. I guess it's because he wants to make out with her. Krystal keeps showing how crazy and manipulative she is which is going to cause drama, but like annoying drama. Seinne surprisingly got a 1 on 1 and Arie says he does really like her. She has these moments of greatness with Arie but then disappears for an episode or 2. Then there was the wilderness group date. Kendall owned it and was in her (weird) element whereas Krystal caused a ton of problems. Her drama almost got her sent home but Arie seems to still like her a lot. Chelsea has calmed down which is nice. Tia is coming out as the crowd favorite but she's way too good for Arie. Episode 5: Chelsea got the 1 on 1 date to start, and although she has calmed down, she keeps bringing up the fact she's a mom and it's weird. But she and Arie enjoyed the date. Then there was the bowling date. Krystal lost her mind because Arie decided to include everyone and she didn't like that. Krystal is too much and hopefully doesn't last. Tia again proved she's too good for Arie on their 1 on 1 date but she is the new #1. If she doesn't win, she for sure will be the next bachelorette. Arie and the girls are so hard to root for but we'll see what happens. Here is the sheet
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The first shock of the episode was when Arie took Krystal to Arizona to basically have a hometown date, but on the second freaking episode! Bold movie Arie. It seemed to go well and Krystal has a shot to make it to the finals. A red flag was before the rose ceremony, where she got a little evil and began to talk to Arie multiple times which ruined the other girls' night. One in particular was Bibiana who flipped out and had the first freak out of the season. I mean you can't blame her, because it was a snakey move. Speaking of snakes, Chelsea still gives off a weird and uncomfortable vibe. It's still early to really understand the women and Arie, so in the mean time we'll keep on enjoying the ride.
Well the Bachelor is back and it took me a few days to watch the season premier. I was interested to see how my rankings would hold up because of how hard it is to make the judgements without actually seeing the show (3 of my top 10 got sent home). Right off the bat, Chelsea is the evident problem. The question is, how far is she going to make it? Arie thinks she is mysterious and wants to keep her around and probably the producers love her for the drama potential. I want to see how long Arie is going to go without realizing her craziness and send her home. I have her ranked high because of that but I don't see her winning. I still have Caroline at #1 even though Annaliese made a really good first impression.
Here is what the rankings look like going into Episode 2 Before every season of the Bachelor or Bachelorette, I like to go over the profiles on the abc website and make my predictions. Then every week I go and update the notes and rankings. Based solely on the profile from abc.com I predict Caroline will win. We'll see every week how right I am. Also here is the link to see the spreadsheet.
It has become popular these days the phrase "shoot your shot" which basically means to take a chance on someone you are interested in, not worrying about whether you are going to fail or not. One of the best examples of this is Steph Curry, as shown in these two memes below. He is the epitome of "shoot your shot" because he can throw up a 3-poitner from anywhere with such confidence and with that has become a metaphor and an inspiration. I decided to follow Steph's attitude. This semester, my dating life has been a huge joke. I've had not one, not two, but eight different girls cancel dates that were planned. I haven't had any luck with girls I've been interested in; one lied so we would break up and another ghosted me (which means when someone inexplicably stops talking to you). I decided that I'd had enough, but there was one more girl I was interested in dating. I had nothing to lose, because you can't break what's already broken, so I made my decision as seen in this Tweet: I had to wait for the best opportunity, because I didn't want to mess this up. I carefully planned out the best time frame to do it. I decided on a day and waited very impatiently. With the day approaching, I began to warm-up with the fate of my future dating life hinging on this last shot. This is how it felt to warm-up: My confidence was a little shaky, but I was determined to at least try. I prepared myself for any situation. I waited a few more days before shooting my last shot. Finally, the time came. It was crunch time and I ken I couldn't back down. I was very nervous, feeling the pressure on having to ball hard. I was so excited and I felt that things might actually work out. Here's basically how it went: The shot was shot. I didn't exactly win or lose. Like Ray Allen, I shot my shot the best I could. Even though a win wasn't secured, I kept myself in the game even though there was still a lot of uncertainty. I was feeling good about it all initially. As the days went on, little progress was seen and I felt just like LeBron: So there it was. I tried. I shot my shot but in the end it didn't get me the win. Being a man of my word, I wanted to use Brett Favre's words as I retire from dating forever: As I look back on these past few months, I've realized that this semester was filled with downs and even more downs, especially in the dating part of my life. In the words of Gordon B. Hinckley, "I have only one comfort: I tried. I have only one sorrow: I failed"
(Copy of talk given in sacrament meeting 10/29/17)
Promises of the Book of Mormon Let’s imagine for a second. You’ve lived your life the best way you could. You had some hard times, but you also had amazing times. You look back and have very few regrets and are very pleased with how you lived your life. And most importantly, you remained faithful to the covenants you made. The resurrection and the millennium pass and you reach the final judgment. But something interesting happens; your Heavenly Father isn’t the only one there. A man steps forward and introduces himself as Nephi and he asks you what you think of his words found in the Book of Mormon. Then Jacob and Moroni do the same thing. At this point, you’re glad you’ve read and studied the Book of Mormon throughout your life, applying its principles. You might not have every page memorized, but you let the teachings be a model for how to live your life. This situation (found in 2 Nephi 33:11, Jacob 6:13, and Moroni 10:27) has always interested me and, in a way, has been one of the many reasons I have found why to study the Book of Mormon. Well before I get to the real point of this talk, I figure I should introduce myself because most of yall have no idea who I am. According to the program I'm Ausrin, but I’m Austin Steele and I’m from Dallas, TX. I got home four months ago from my mission in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Currently I am studying Civil Engineering. But anyway, back to the Book of Mormon. Like I was saying, there are many reasons to read the Book of Mormon. Some come from the teachings and counsels of church leaders and others come from personal experience and testimony. All of these are very important. When we have a reason, we embrace the task and feel motivated to do all that is required. Something interesting to note is that the Book of Mormon is filled with promises directed to us. Not only if we read it, but also if we live our lives in harmony with its teachings. What I would like for yall to think about is “Am I taking full advantage of all the promises offered in the Book of Mormon?” Today I want to highlight two of these. One of the most incredible and most repeated (the last time I counted I noticed about 54 instances of some sort or variation of this) promises is basically the idea that “Inasmuch as ye shall keep the commandments of God ye shall prosper in the land.” or simply put keep the commandments and you will receive blessings. Now these blessings can be temporal, spiritual, or both. The question is why? Why would this promise be repeated so much? I think one of my favorite verses in the Book of Mormon gives a hint why “And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it.” (Mosiah 2:41). The blessed and happy state. I think that’s the key. Heavenly Father loves each of us so much. Many times, we do not understand why things do or don’t happen in our lives and that makes it hard. I think the Lord taught this principle to help us remember what’s really important. That if we fail a midterm, lose in Fantasy Football, get our heart broken, we can still find peace and happiness, and that comes through keeping the commandments. But the Book of Mormon wouldn’t just tell us what we get without helping us understand what we should do. We know that we get blessings, but the question is how? The Book of Mormon has those answers. In the Book of Mormon we find: the ten commandments, the sermon at the temple when Christ visited the Americas, lessons on tithing and chastity, and other guidelines outlining how to live the life that God would have us live. One of the ways I have personally seen this was last June. I was in a place called Maquinista Savio, which I'm pretty sure translates to "the upside down" because it was just as cold and depressing . It’s a smaller town halfway to the middle of nowhere in Buenos Aires and I hated it. It was winter at the time and it was so cold and rainy. The roads all turned to mud and the power kept going out so we could never get warm at night. And to top it all off the members couldn’t give us lunch and due to inflation, we couldn’t afford to buy food every day. I didn’t think I was going to get out of there alive. All of this hurt my attitude as well as my companion’s and the other two elders who shared the ward with us. We were miserable and weren’t afraid to complain. But one day after studying the Book of Mormon and the promises of missionary success found in Mosiah and Alma we felt we should stop feeling sorry for ourselves and try to do something that would actually help this ward. After many prayers and fasting one of the other Elders sent us a text saying he found the answer. He had cleaned out their apartment and found an old Book of Mormon reading calendar. His idea was to get the whole ward to start reading the Book of Mormon so they could start to enjoy the blessings that come with it. So, we made a ton of copies and “Operación Jesucristo en Casa” (Roughly translated to Operation: Jesus Christ at home) was born. After a few weeks of gently encouraging the ward to read, things finally began to change. The leaders took charge and reached out. Home teaching was actually done! The attendance grew and there seriously was so much love to be felt in that ward. The ward was ready to welcome any investigator we might bring. There was Facundo who showed up with a change of clothes saying he was ready to be baptized. There was Gina whose boyfriend finally left so she and her kids could get baptized. There was Cecilia who was married (something very rare) and had 8 children. There were countless miracles we witnessed in that ward, and we owed it all to the power of studying the Book of Mormon and taking advantage of its promises. This is one of my most treasured times in the mission where I learned about the power of the Book of Mormon. I love the Book of Mormon and I know it is so true and so powerful! The other promise I wanted to touch on today is one found in Moroni 10:3-5 and the introduction. This has to do with obtaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon. When you look at the last paragraph of the introduction of the Book of Mormon and Moroni 10:3-5, you begin to realize that it’s a lot more than just knowing the Book of Mormon is true. We receive promises of knowledge of specific things which are very important for us here on Earth and in the life after. In Moroni 10:3 we learn that our testimony is based off a newfound knowledge of just how merciful the Lord has been (and will be with us). Having a testimony of a loving God is pretty special, right? That is definitely something that has helped me. But it’s not only that. In the introduction of the Book of Mormon we are told that after receiving this testimony of the Book of Mormon we will also know “by the same power that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, that Joseph Smith is His revelator and prophet in these last days, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord’s kingdom once again established on the earth, preparatory to the Second Coming of the Messiah.” Not only are we promised we can have a testimony of the Book of Mormon but look at what we are also promised to have a knowledge of. To know Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world?! How incredible is that? That is one of the most important things we can gain in this life is a testimony that Christ lives and is our savior. Over the past few sessions of General Conference, I have noticed an emphasis on the importance of a personal testimony of the Book of Mormon. We don’t know what lies ahead in the future, we can be sure that the attacks on the church and the Book of Mormon won’t let up so a testimony of the Book of Mormon is essential in having us stay strong. Following the promises of the Book of Mormon if we do all we can, we will receive the Lord’s help, protection, and blessings. One example I loved that illustrates the importance of personal testimony is one that originally was given in context to fathers, but it applies to all of us. Elder Texeira, an area 70 from Paraguay told a story of when he and his sons went camping. "We went to the store to buy supplies. We probably ending up buying a weeks worth of food for the one night trip. We were all very excited for what adventures awaited us. We set up camp and started exploring and before we knew it, the sun had gone down and it was pretty dark. It was then when I realized that I didn't have a flashlight. We had no way to guide us back to camp. Not even one lousy match. I provided temporally for my children with the food, but I couldn't guide them back to safety. We need to focus on being a light to others. We need to read the Book of Mormon to have that light." Today I only touched on 2 promises found in the Book of Mormon and I encourage yall to find the many others and then do all you can to secure those blessings. I know that the Book of Mormon was translated by Joseph Smith. I know that it contains the words of Christ. I know that Christ lives and that our Heavenly Father has a perfect plan. In the name of Jesus Christ amen. (Copy of talk given in sacrament meeting on July 30) Good morning brothers and sisters, I’m Austin Steele. I’m from the Allen 1st ward and about 6 weeks ago I finished serving in the Argentina Buenos Aires North mission. This is also my last Sunday here in Allen before I go back up to BYU Provo next week. President Jacobson said that he couldn’t give me a calling because I’m leaving, but that doesn't mean I can’t give a talk. Thought I got out of it.
Like I said, I served in Argentina, and obviously I loved all of if. One of the things I really grew to love is soccer and the Argentina players and teams including Lionel Messi, the world’s best player. On February 14 of this year Messi and FC Barcelona played Paris St. German and lost 0-4. The way the playoffs are set up, 2 games are played and the goal total of both games determines the winner. That meant that FC Barcelona would have to overcome an almost impossible 5 goal deficit to win. 3 weeks later the stage was set. One goal was scored. Then another. And another. and then 3 more. Barcelona pulled off probably one of the greatest comebacks in the history of soccer. When I was asked to speak about the Atonement of Jesus Christ, I thought about this game. But why? The atonement of Jesus Christ makes life’s seemingly impossible challenges possible. We always get 2nd chances. But what really is the Atonement of Jesus Christ? How does it apply to us? Today I would like to cover the 2 main points in how it effects our daily lives and our eternal progression. Like all things in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the atonement of Jesus Christ is part of a greater plan. So to understand a little better, let us review our pre mortal existence. It is important to highlight 3 events; The pre mortal council, the creation, and the fall. As we read, God’s only purpose is us and our progression. His desires are that we become like him and participate in all that He has. First we would need a place to start that journey, so the earth was created. Then so we could continue on that journey God allowed Adam and Eve to choose. Because of their choice, known as The Fall brought both physical and spiritual death into play. Physical death, is well, dying. Spiritual death on the other hand means a separation from God’s presence. No unclean thing can dwell in the presence of God. And this doesn’t mean physically dirty, but spirally unclean. Sin stains us. It dulls the spirit and does not make us worthy to return with God or in other words, frustrates God’s entire plan. So something had to be done. It’s just like my Grandpa says “If you do the crime, you do the time! Unless you know someone who will bail you out. But then you owe him” That’s where the atonement of Jesus Christ comes in. He is the one who “bails us out” He is the one who will help us because we cannot help ourselves. Everyday we do things that disqualify ourselves from returning to live with our Heavenly Father. It’s just how we are. Every day the debt grows and repentance is the only way we can get out of it but I’ll get back to that later. Moving on, We already know that being worthy is required to return back to our Heavenly Father. But we also learn that we need attributes like; faith, hope, charity and patience. But our weakness get in the way of us fully possessing these attributes of Christ. That’s another way the Atonement of Jesus Christ helps us. Alma taught us “And he shall go forth suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities” Jesus Christ did not just suffer for our sins. He doesn't just cover that part of life. He also is how we get over weaknesses, sicknesses, challenges both mental and physical. That’s what I learned a lot about the atonement on my mission, and I continue to learn it today. On one p-day this year in May, we got together as missionaries to play soccer at the church like we normally did. And like always, none of us were that good so it was all fun. And then I stepped wrong. No one is still sure what exactly happened, but whatever happened resulted in having both my legs going up in the air and me landing directly on the top of my back. I couldn't breathe for what seemed like a whole minute (It was really only about 15 seconds). Life literally knocked me on my back. Later, the adrenaline calmed down and the pain started. I had already sent a companion home with back problems, and I was starting to get really worried. I talked to the mission nurse and she told me I needed to rest, apply heat, and take ibuprofen. This was my last transfer and I wanted to end “on top.” I felt that I had suffered a lot in my mission between disobedient/challenging companions and not having the most likable areas. I felt that God owed me. But that’s not how life goes. So here I was, week 2 of my last transfer and I would have to spend it resting in bed. But it didn’t stop there. A few days later I started getting really bad knee pain. I felt useless. We only left the apartment to get lunch, and then I would try to leave a little bit but I couldn’t get very far. If only that was the end to my problems. After 4 and a half months and a lot of miracles, we finally had baptism lined up. 8 baptisms. Well, almost. In that same week we lost all 8 baptisms. I couldn’t believe it. I was basically bedridden and we had lost all our work. Things were not going according to my plan. My back pain slowly started to go away, but the knee pain got worse. I tried everything. When I got a blessing from my companion and the elders that lived downstairs, I was promised that things would get better. I held on to that with what little faith I had left. The weeks went by and things didn’t get a whole lot better. We had lost every investigator and I still could walk that much. I called the mission nurse to ask, and when I told her I had 2 weeks left she told me to “suck it up and just wait until I get home.” I was so angry at God. I spent many prayers expressing my frustration. This wasn’t how I was supped to finish my mission. I’m supposed to baptize and work hard and have all these cool experiences but I’m stuck in my apartment. Even with all that, deep down I felt at peace. I knew that my work was still accepted and that things would be ok, but I didn’t always pay attention to that. By the time I came home my knees weren’t any better. The 16 hours of travel were agonizing. I came home feeling broken and defeated. On top of the already difficult experience of readjusting to life back from the mission, I had to deal with all of this. I went to the doctor and he didn’t really know what was wrong. A month later I got to another doctor and he was able to give some answers and just last week I finally got to start physical therapy. Only in the past few weeks have things started to turn around. Tiny miracles have started happening, like going to see the US men’s soccer team win in the semi-finals, or going to the temple every week with my family, or making new friends, and simple feelings of peace and hope. Trusting in Jesus Christ is what has helped me get here. It’s still hard readjusting and my knees still hurt, but I have hope and faith in the atonement of Jesus Christ to help me not only “get through” this trial but to learn from it. I testify that atonement of Jesus Christ isn't just for our sins. It’s to help us overcome whatever we face in life. Brothers and sisters, life is not easy. It’s not fair. There is a lot we don't understand. One of my favorite scriptures is found in Doctrine and Covenants 58:2-4 and it says “For verily I say unto you, blessed is he that keepeth my commandments, whether in life or in death; and he that is faithful in tribulation, the reward of the same is greater in the kingdom of heaven. Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation.For after much tribulation come the blessings. Wherefore the day cometh that ye shall be crowned with much glory; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand.” We can have hope. Jesus Christ is the One who lets us know that things can change and get better. But like it also says, there is something we have to do. While prayer is an important action, it is not the only one. Repentance and learning about Christ are two other ways we may fully take advantage of the atonement of Jesus Christ. Repenting is saying more than “I’m sorry.” We need to recognize that we did something against the will of God and that we need to change. After we stop doing it, we find all ways possible to fix it. We ask for forgiveness from God, others, and even ourselves. Then we keep the commandments and keep doing our best to be a little better each day. So it’s a constant process, repentance. It’s not a one and done moment, but instead something we do knowing that we will have to do it again and again to maintain ourselves. It’s like how a companion taught me when I got fed up with cleaning our apartment. I had always spent a lot of time making sure it was clean, but there always seemed to be something else dirty. One day in my frustration, I told him that I was going to give up on cleaning because it gets dirty again right away. He then told me “It’s just like repentance. Are you going to stop repenting just because you know you’ll have to do it again? Well obviously not! So keep doing both” The atonement of Jesus Christ is all about change. We can overcome our weaknesses just as much as we can overcome sin. Is it easy? No! Something that helps is learning about Christ. Who He is and how He lived His life. The more we learn about Him, the more we love Him. The more we love Him the more we are willing to keep the commandments we have received and the more likely we are to repent. The more we learn about Him, the more we can trust that things will get better. The more we can trust that although we don’t see or know everything, there is someone who does. It is essential to our earthly and eternal happiness that we do all we can to follow Christ. Today I gave my farewell talk before leaving for 2 years to Buenos Aires Argentina. I mentioned all the references I made on Twitter and figured I could leave it here for those who didn't hear me give it (and as a good testimony), although the tears that accompanied it won't be included here. Good Morning. For those of you who don’t really recognize me, I understand because I’ve spent 2 semesters at BYU Provo and have only been home for a few weeks. My freshman year was amazing and very memorable. I had countless life lessons, especially some that have helped me prepare to leave this week for the MTC before eventually flying down to Buenos Aires, Argentina. But more on that later.
I was asked to give this talk today referencing Elder David A. Bednar’s October 2014 conference address titled “Come and See.” The main focus of this talk is aimed at answering the question of why Latter-Day Saints are eager to tell about what they believe and why they invite others to learn more. In the beginning of this talk Elder Bednar explains that “The Church of Jesus Christ always has been and always will be a missionary church” Sounds pretty good right? But what is a Missionary? That too is answered by Elder Bednar “A missionary is a follower of Christ who testifies of Him as the Redeemer and proclaims the truths of His gospel.” Notice how he didn’t say “Someone who leaves for 18 months or 2 years, wears a name tag, and rides bikes all over” It is important to remember that we all need to do our part. I haven’t always been as diligent as I probably should have but there was one time around Christmas where I got it. In our student ward we were challenged to use social media to share the gospel and more specifically the He is The Gift video. Now something about me is that I use Twitter. A lot. So I felt as if the teacher was speaking right to me. I had some reservations at first because I didn’t want to offend or annoy anyone but the thought “A CUTE girl just challenged you to do something you’re totally capable of doing AND she promised Christmas treats to the dorms who did it” So the first few hours I did it for the cute girl and the treats but as the day went on I realized that sharing the gospel online is very easy and it was a good testimony builder for me. So never be afraid to share a quick thought because you never know who might need it. Elder Bednar then addresses those who are not Latter-Day Saints “When we invite you to attend church with us or to learn with the full-time missionaries, we are not trying to sell you a product” which I think is very important to note. He continues by saying “We are not attempting to coerce you to believe as we do” I think that this is cause for us to be hesitant to share our beliefs with others because we do not want to seem like we are forcing anything upon them. I mean I’ve felt that way before. All we can do is invite them to learn more and have them find out for themselves. As Elder Bednar continues he explains that being a missionary is more than a spiritual duty but “our desire to share the restored gospel of Jesus Christ with you is a reflection of how important these truths are to us” This makes sense because we tend to talk about things we like or feel important to us. I had to ask myself “Because the gospel is such a fundamental part of my life, why don’t I talk about it more?” These days I spend most of my time talking about The Bachelorette, The NBA playoffs, and Formula 1 racing even though they are not even close to as important in my life as the gospel. That is something I have been trying to improve especially because the next 2 years I will be focusing on sharing the gospel. Speaking of improving and preparing, while I was writing this talk, I kept thinking about an experience I had during one of my first days in Provo. I moved in on a Sunday and because orientation didn’t start until Thursday, I had some time. Luckily I had made some friends online beforehand so we had agreed to hangout Monday. A meeting up for lunch quickly led to a 4am drive to draper and then sleeping out on the basketball courts next to our dorm. We didn’t have much sleep and all day Tuesday we helped others move into their dorms. I don't remember how the idea came about, but that afternoon we decided we were going to hike the Y the next morning to see the sunrise. Now if you’re like me you’re thinking “oh that’s cool” but if you’re from Utah or remember geography, the suns rises in the East. The Y faces the West. See the problem? This was not something that crossed our minds. Again we didn’t sleep enough and at 4:30am Wednesday morning we were at the base of the mountain. I would not recommend doing that hike while very tired, very hungry, dehydrated and not used to the altitude. But we eventually made it and that’s when we decided to check the sunrise time; 7:49. It was about 5:20. Luckily we brought blankets and did the best we could to nap until the sun rose. It was 8:00 and that’s when we realized the direction we were facing. I mean it was still a gorgeous view, but not what we wanted. Why do I share this embarrassing story? That’s what preparing for a mission is like. Just because you have the goal to do it, doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. I’ve realized that being excited and setting the goal is only part of it. You need to take every step to prepare. For those of you thinking about going on missions, you need to start now. Wherever you are, start. You can be like Drake; starting from the bottom. Start reading the scriptures. Just read them and enjoy them and that's when you can start to really learn from them. Familiarize yourself with Preach My Gospel. I was fortunate enough to be called to teach Mission Prep (which at first thought was weird because I haven't gone on a mission) for my student ward and feel that was a tremendous blessing because I had to really learn Preach My Gospel in order to teach others how to use and teach from it. Everyone says this, and it’s true, pay attention in seminary. Try every day to learn something. This is not an easy thing, but it's doable. There were a lot of days where I just went in with the mindset “How can I relate this to cars and how would I teach this?” and it helped so much. Take every chance you can to learn and share. But this is not a 0-100 real quick thing either, but instead you need Kanye’s “All Day” mentality. And oh boy do you have to fight procrastination and distractions. It seems easy enough to prepare with your free time (before but it also seemed simple enough for the Seahawks to run it at the 1.) but unlike the Seahawks, I know I can be successful with the Lord on my side Like I said being excited is only part of it, but it is still important to look forward to wherever you are called to serve. Given my family history and constant reassurance from my Grandpa, I figured I was going to Europe. But I always said “I’ll go wherever I’m called because that’s where I’ll be needed.” An hour before I was supposed to open my call, I was at a friend’s dorm and they asked where I hoped the call was to. I said “I don’t really care…… as long as it’s really not South America. I just don’t really want to go there.” 63 minutes later of course I found out I’d be going to Argentina. I was still excited but at the same time just kind of like oh. Oh because all I could think about Argentina was: I had made fun of their World Cup loss, The Top Gear disaster, and Bishop Christiansen. That night I did some research and felt a little better. Hanging up an Argentina flag in the dorm helped me feel more excited. Then one night a few weeks later listening to Big Sean’s New Album for whatever reason helped. The song Deep opens with “I look up to God, I wonder if I fell from the sky” which made me realize there are people who have big questions like where they came from and that the Gospel answers questions like that. The song Blessings helped me realize my blessings and how I want others to also feel just as blessed. And there was another line in the song that got me thinking. “I’m here for a good time, not a long time” which applies to a mission. 2 years is not a long time but it’s what you do with those 2 years that make it a good time in the sense that you serve and teach to the best of your abilities. This leads to the song One Man Can Change the World. I can change the world, well at least down in Argentina I can change someone’s world. I was talking with a friend sometime after and she really got me thinking about the impact I can have as a missionary and we decided that “One Man Can Change The World” would be my mission anthem and that’s when I realized it doesn’t matter where I’m going. But now I'm so extremely excited to be going to such a wonderful place. What matters is I go with the intent to serve and love the people. And once you feel that, all you want to do is prepare. Now why do all of this preparation to share the Gospel? Because, as Elder Bednar put it “Absolute truth exists. Jesus the Christ absolutely is the Only Begotten Son of the Eternal Father.” I want to echo those absolute truths. Joseph Smith absolutely saw Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. The Book of Mormon is absolutely another testament of Christ. And this gospel is absolutely true, everlasting, and life changing. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen The Mazda Miata, the internet's car answer to everything. I mean Miata is even an acronym that stands for Miata Is Always The Answer. For years I've been reading about how the Miata is just the greatest. It's an affordable fun sports car and it really looks the part. There hasn't been a bad generation of them. Personally I'm not a huge fan of the NB (2nd generation) but I haven't driven it, so I could be very wrong. I've watched countless videos about the Miata and the more I've thought about it, the more I've been considering one as a future car. Recently a brilliant ad came out that highlighted the life of a Mazda owner where he started and ended with a Miata and that was when I knew I had to own one eventually. But of course, the problem is I've never driven one. My Dad's lease is up in July and he has been looking at getting a new car, and of course me being the only one in my family who enjoys cars and researching them, he has been relying on me. After a few days of extensive research I had the list narrowed down for him. At the top of that list is the Mazda6. My dad wanted to check it out and I realized I had the perfect opportunity to have my first Miata experience. I would have preferred to drive either an NA (1st generation) or the brand new ND, but all the dealer had was the NC. The NC while the most modern (so far before the ND comes on sale) has been knocked a little bit due to the fact that it seems a little bloated compared to NA and therefore I had a little bit of a lower opinion of it. The impressive thing I remembered before driving it was featured in the "Perfect Weight Distribution " ad and maybe it was still going to be the full Miata experience... It finally came time to drive it. I had (sadly) told the dealer to get me an automatic and I just hoped I could still enjoy the car. He pulled up with a silver soft top sport model. I couldn't believe it. I had never looked at a Miata quite like I was at that point. I think it was the fact that I was actually going to be driving it. I walked around admiring the beautiful machine. It seemed a little smaller than I thought but I wasn't going to let that stop me from enjoying the car. I opened the door and slid into the seat. Instantly I felt a connection with the car. It was like the interior of the car was designed just for me. The seat, the mirrors, the wheel, the pedals were all placed in the perfect place and was very comfortable. I've never been in a convertible before and I thought it would bother me, but I had no complaints. I then noticed the paddle shifters on the steering wheel and I became even more excited. I put it in manual mode, tapped the shifter to 1st and we were off. I shifted a little early to keep the revs down but still the way the car drove and sounded was an experience that couldn't keep me from smiling. I was still a little nervous as I prepared to turn left out of the dealership. I wasn't sure of the speed limit at first so I didn't really push the car that much.
We ended up on a country highway and that's when I decided to be a little bit more daring. Soon enough I had cycled through the gears and was in 4th going 65 in total confidence. The ride was very comfortable and it hugged the road wonderfully. The road was a little wet but that didn't worry me even under braking. After a little bit I pulled into a gas station to turn around and also put the convertible top down. I turned left to get back on the main road and hit the gas but this time the wind was blowing in my hair a little bit. It was at this moment where everything made sense. I was hit with visions of road trips and canyon drives. I just felt free. My mind cleared and all my worries didn't exist for about 11 minutes. I began to understand what the Miata was all about. It was when driving made sense. It was when cars made sense. I haven't stopped smiling since. (Is it too early to say I'm in love?) Some say that driving is just getting from point A to point B but others say that driving is the point. The latter couldn't be more true. Since the creation of social media there have been warnings of "You spend too much time on there you're going to miss out on life" and "Those aren't your real friends." I'm not saying these aren't true, but I know that this is not always the case. It's a fact of life that I'm on Twitter all the time. If its a big sporing event or an F1 race your timeline will be taken over by my hundreds of tweets and retweets. Another thing I do a lot on Twitter is reply/have conversations. Now here's where someone could ask "Have you ever talked to them in real life before?" and sometimes the answer is no.
There is a special case that I want to talk about. Right before school started I ended up following a bunch of people that would also be attending BYU for the fall semester. I didn't really know who they were but figured there might be some connections made. There were a few people whose tweets I favorite and there was some conversation but nothing much from that original group. Then things started to change. I had noticed that one of the girls whom I'd almost never interacted with on Twitter was talking about Finance. Turns out we were in the same class after I DMed her saying "I just saw your finance tweet. I think we're in the same class" and then left it at that. Then I accidentally showed up to finance when it was cancelled and messaged her asking if class was canceled. It was awkward. But then about a week later in marketing we had a guest speaker and it was almost unbearable to sit through so I took to Twitter. Turns out Hannah (finance girl) was in the class and also suffering. Then her friend Lindsey also started tweeting about it and together we got through the "Drink the water with the gold" speech. Even after that we were in each other's mentions a lot and eventually Hannah (a different Hannah) encouraged me to slide into Lindsey's DMs. After a legendary approach I got her number and the conversation led to an invite to sit with her and Hannah in marketing. I'll admit it was a little awkward at first, I had only seen them one time before at a BYU basketball game where we tried to figure out if it was really the other person and then some smiles and waves. But after I stained my hands after a bunch of M&Ms melted in them things got better. We had plenty more fun in marketing. We hung out a little outside of marketing like watching the BYU @ Gonzaga game, being forced to spill srirache water on the table, then spontaneously going to the dollar theatre to see Mockingjay. On March 1st Nathan brought up the idea of "wouldn't it be fun if we went to Vegas?" and I of course jumped on the idea. The only problem was we had no way of getting there. I then texted Hannah not only did she have a car but she and her group of friends would make for an entertaining roadtrip. I was a little surprised when she agreed. I then found out where to get tickets and we made plans to leave Saturday morning for Vegas. Now if you haven't been following the story, we had really only known each other for about 2 and half weeks and now we're going to be in car for over 12 hours total (t's kind of like driving to Draper at 4am with people you've only known for 14 hours). The drive, while a little Beyonce and Taylor Swift heavy, was actually really fun; We stopped at Cracker Barrel for lunch in St. George. We were lucky enough that Hannah had some family friends in Vegas so we had a place to sleep that night. The unlucky part was that they had Nathan and Me in a room with a full size bed. Nathan saw the bed and immediately said "I'm sleeping on the floor." We had some time before the game so we went to Bahama Bucks (A Texas company!) and then Walmart to buy sign making supplies. On Twitter the ROC was promoting free triple doubles (because Kyle Collinsworth) at In-N-Out so of course we were going to go there. The burgers were great but the awkward and uncomfortable interview wasn't. I mean some media outlet just put a camera in our faces while we were eating and it was not the best. We then made our signs, which I was pretty proud of. We had the "We Want Kentucky" and "For what it's [Collins]worth, Pangos is not P.O.Y." Those signs got plenty of attention at In-N-Out and the game. We were finally ready for the game, but here's the thing about where it was. It was in a casino and it felt like they just added on a high school gym for little events. But we still enjoyed both games we got to watch and an added bonus we made a whole lot of Gonzaga fans upset with our Pangos sign. After nearly 5 hours at the end of the game our signs finally got on the big screen and we got plenty of applause. After the game we went to the strip. Norm's travel tip; Don't go to the strip after midnight because it is not a place you want to wander around in (the price of cocaine was actually pretty nice). So after a very bad experience on the strip we went to the temple. Well we tried to go to the temple but ended up at a normal church building pretty far away from the actual temple, but eventually we made it. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail about my experience there, but it was a very powerful and personal spiritual experience sitting outside that temple for an hour in silence just thinking and praying. The drive back the next day was uneventful except for Hannah's frightening but highly entertaining road rage against the 18 Wheelers and other stupid drivers. Looking back almost 2 weeks later I still can't believe we made that spontaneous trip. If it wasn't for Twitter I wouldn't have been able to experience it and I wouldn't have made such great friends. Just like Marshawn Lynch, I'm thankful. Thankful for friends and thankful for Twitter. |
Austin "Apex" SteeleSports. Cars. Sports cars. Archives
January 2018
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